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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23389141">"I love you" was a promise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedmiracle/pseuds/twistedmiracle'>twistedmiracle</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Royal Series [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Check Please! (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 15:41:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>15,670</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23389141</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/twistedmiracle/pseuds/twistedmiracle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>This is the third and final installment in my Royals series. I have to tell you, dear reader, if you have not read either of the previous fics in this cute, utterly unserious series, this one is not going to make any blessed sense. So please, go read (or even reread, if that’s how you roll) the first and second fics, and afterwards I very much hope you’ll return and enjoy this one. Go read! I can wait. :)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alicia Zimmermann/Bob Zimmermann, Eric "Bitty" Bittle/Jack Zimmermann, Richard "Coach" Bittle/Suzanne Bittle</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Royal Series [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1390771</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>89</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>93</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. One</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Jacquee">Jacquee</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I am giving this to Jacquee as a gift, because without all those amazing questions you asked in the comments sections, my dear, this probably wouldn't even exist!</p><p>Title from Billie Eilish’s idontwannabeyouanymore.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Clipped from the very end of the last scene, chronologically:<br/>
Jack sat up, revealing his nudity and some of Bitty’s.<br/>
“Dear Lord,” Shitty sounded horrified. “Did you take Prince Eric’s virginity? Christ on a cracker, Jack, this is bad. Kid, I know the Kingdom of Morgan is really religious, really conservative. Did you leave home because you wanted a husband but your parents were trying to make you take a wife?”<br/>
Jack vaguely remembered again, Morgan’s King and Queen had said something about a Suitable Bride and half-planned wedding. But Shitty had given him an idea.<br/>
“A husband, did you say?” Jack smiled at Bitty. “Are you really the missing Prince of Morgan, darling?”<br/>
Sheepish and uncomfortable, Bitty nodded once.<br/>
Jack pulled Bitty up into his arms. “I think I might have a solution, Shitty,” Jack said, and he French-kissed Bitty into a daze, right in front of Shitty and the day maid. “Call Maman, would you? A hockey player can’t do better than a wedding on winter ice, can I, my own, sweet Prince?”</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////</p><p> </p><p>Chapter One</p><p>“Jack?” Eric was still in Jack’s arms, but … the other guy, had Jack seriously called him <i>Shitty</i>? Eric had to have misheard. Anyway, whatever his name actually was, he had run off, he was probably fetching the Queen of Samwell right this second, and Eric was going to turn inside out he was so embarrassed.</p><p>“Yes, darling?” Jack said, but then — instead of listening to Eric’s answer — he started to kiss Eric’s neck. With that happening, it took a few moments for Eric to think about anything other than Jack: his lips, his huge hands, his hardening cock. Eric’s hardening cock, for that matter. But when Eric opened his eyes he caught sight of the pastries he’d brought up to the room the night before, and this triggered his memory.</p><p>“Jack!” he hissed. “Is your mother going to interrupt us?”</p><p>“Way to kill the mood, Bitty,” Jack chided gently, but he released Eric and stood up, nude, unselfconscious, gorgeous and smiling. “Yes, Maman is probably heading this way. Let’s shower quickly and get dressed. I’ll try to find something more suitable, so you don't have to wear a uniform in front of Maman.”</p><p>He held his hand out and Eric took it without thinking, let Jack pull him to standing, then rethought. “Jack,” he said, “do you actually think we can shower quickly, together?”</p><p>Jack stepped closer and pulled Eric close. Eric felt his cock react and started to blush. “Good point,” Jack said, and he kissed Eric yet again. Then he patted Eric’s ass and pushed him toward the shower. “I’ll find you some clothes. Get clean.” </p><p>When Eric emerged from the bathroom five minutes later, a large, fluffy towel around his hips, Jack had lain clothing out on the bed. Eric looked over the outfit as Jack headed for the bathroom. A pair of underwear, loose looking trousers with a drawstring, and a colorful, sleeveless tunic Jack had probably outgrown. After fetching the plain white button-down from his uniform, Eric dropped the towel on the floor and slipped the clothing on. He put his servant shoes and socks back on, as well. He was dressed and combing his hair in Jack’s mirror when the man who had awakened him reentered the room.</p><p>“Is Prince Jack in the shower?” the man asked, and Eric nodded. “And you really are Prince Eric of Morgan?”</p><p>Eric nodded again.</p><p>“Tell me the truth, Prince Eric,” the man murmured, moving closer. “Do you want to marry Prince Jack? Do I need to get you somewhere safe? There’s a metro station three blocks away. We even have a helicopter pad on the roof. I can get you out safely and quickly if you’ve been coerced, or feel pressured.”</p><p>Eric had a sudden memory from the night before. “You must be Knight!” he said, delighted. “Jack insisted on verbal consent last night, even though he was sure I had already volunteered to join his harem. He said he had to be certain, or ‘Knight would never forgive him’.”</p><p>“Shitty Knight, at your service,” the man said, and bowed beautifully.</p><p>“That cannot be your name,” Eric insisted, the bearing of a Prince returning to him effortlessly, despite just over six weeks of pretending to be a commoner and learning to be a royal pastry chef.</p><p>“It is what I prefer to be called,” Knight said gravely, “And Prince Jack indulges me. Now,” his volume dropped dramatically, “before he finishes his shower, do you need to escape?”</p><p>Eric took Shitty’s hand in his own and smiled. “You are so good to him, I’m impressed you would also be so loyal to your own morals. No, Shitty, I would love to marry Jack. I can hardly believe how lucky I am. And yes, I really am Prince Eric of Morgan. I very nearly shaved my head just before I ran away, and my hair grew in awfully curly, but I think if you look at a picture, you’ll see it. I’m really me. My parents will recognize me, as well, when they come to claim me.” He made a face. </p><p>“Well, they can’t have you,” Jack said. He had stepped out of the bathroom and was looking through his wardrobe. He pulled on a pair of underwear and then sighed. “I think I’ll just throw on a bathrobe,” he finally said. “I have no idea how to dress for the … <i>words</i> we are about to have with my mother.”</p><p>“She wants you at the breakfast table in...” Shitty checked his watch. “In seventeen minutes, now. I came to tell you.”</p><p>“Not in my room? No bathrobe then,” Jack said and he put his hands on his hips and stared helplessly at his hanging clothes.</p><p>Shitty clearly held back from rolling his eyes or scoffing. Eric could see his face and knew Jack remained unaware of Shitty’s need of restraint. Eric smiled. Then something occurred to him. “Speaking of the harem, whatever happened to the newest addition? No one was expecting me to take her place!” Eric giggled nervously.</p><p>“Jack found you himself, before Ransom could even start to look for… another,” Shitty said, clearly uncomfortable, but Bitty beamed. </p><p>“I should help Jack dress,” Shitty said, clearly wanting to change the subject. </p><p>“I can dress him, Shitty,” Eric said, wanting to make the man more comfortable and equally eager to choose Jack’s clothing himself. “But am I adequately attired? The Queen! And she’s going to be my mother-in-law!”</p><p>Shitty cocked his head at Eric, but Eric was too giddy and nervous to wait for his opinion. He walked to Jack’s enormous wardrobe and quickly chose a pair of navy trousers, the matching jacket, a modern button-down shirt in smoke grey, and a subtly patterned blue and grey tie to bring out Jack’s gorgeous blue eyes. He handed these to Jack, who gave him an adoring smile and walked to the bed to dump the garments and start to put them on. </p><p>Eric stayed at the wardrobe, staring at it in dismay. “I love how tall and broad you are, sweetpea,” he said, loud enough for Jack to hear, “but I do not love the way we are such different sizes that I obviously cannot borrow a single thing.”</p><p>“What you have on now will do for this morning,” Shitty said, walking closer to Eric. “What you probably don’t know about that tunic is the Queen actually embroidered it some years ago as a birthday present for Prince Jack. That’s why he still has it, even though he outgrew it. No one could bear to dispose of it. So seeing you in it…”</p><p>“Will help soften her heart?”</p><p>“Oh, I suppose,” Jack said, effortlessly tying a perfect four rings knot in the tie Eric had chosen for him. Eric could <i>feel</i> his eyes go gooey, to match his burning, blushy cheeks. </p><p>“But I wouldn’t worry about that,” Jack continued, petting Eric’s cheek and somehow not coming away with burned fingertips. “She is going to adore you, like I do.”</p><p>“Of course she will,” Shitty snapped, reminding Eric he was still in the room. “But that’s not the problem.”</p><p>“The problem is I ran away.” Eric said, worried again.</p><p>“And found a man.” Jack said, looking a little gooey-eyed himself, now.</p><p>“Who is heir to a country with whom your country has historically had both good relations and bad, treaties and tensions,” Shitty finished for them. “Queen Alicia is going to be fully aware of all of that, plus the… official, legal ‘discomfort’ Morgan, as a Kingdom, has with homosexuality.”</p><p>“But,” Eric tried, taking Jack’s hand and getting subsequently pulled closer to Jack’s side. He snuggled in and finished his sentence with a smile. “I’m not the heir. I’m <i>eighth in line</i>, for heaven’s sake and I’ve never been closer than fourth! They don’t need me. They <i>do</i> need Samwell. We can make this work.”</p><p>“Make those arguments to the Queen, not me,” Shitty said. “And soon. You two are expected in two minutes.”</p><p>“Merde,” Jack said. “It’s a three minute walk.” He squeezed Eric’s hand and started for the door again. Eric squeezed back and followed his fiancé to the breakfast room.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Two</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So,” Queen Alicia said, clearly unhappy. “That’s that, then. I’ll contact Eric’s parents, then once we have their first-line reaction, I’ll write them a formal letter and so will Jack. Eric, you are to absolutely stay out of this part. You’ll be able to speak to your parents in person. I’m sure we will be seeing them <i>quite</i> soon.”</p><p>The Queen stood, so Jack and Eric did as well, and when she came around the table toward them, Eric had to work not to flinch or cringe. But to his surprise, all she wanted was to hug him.</p><p>“You boys didn’t exactly do this the easy way,” she said into his hair, “but I can see how happy you are already making my son, and that’s very important to me.” </p><p>She gave him one last squeeze and then held him at arm’s length to look into his eyes. She looked very serious, all of a sudden, and her height made Eric feel childishly short. “Knight is going to show you to your new quarters. They are on the other side of the castle from Jack’s quarters. You two have broken enough precedent for a while. You are not to visit one another’s beds again until your wedding night, do you hear me?”</p><p>Eric nodded, shocked and embarrassed. Neither of his parents would ever have said anything so blunt. He swallowed. The Queen was still staring. “Yes, Ma’am,” he said, and that was when she smiled, patted his shoulder and released him.</p><p>Knight coughed quietly by the door, so Eric bowed gently to Jack and his mother, then let Knight lead him off to a far wing. They walked in silence for a few minutes. Eric slowed, paying vague attention to the hallways, the windows, tapestries and wallpapers. He was going to live here. He needed to learn his way around these parts of the castle, not just the kitchens and Jack’s bed. He felt himself blush and continued to follow Shitty without successfully registering very much at all about where he was or had been.</p><p>“Those are Queen Alicia and Prince Robert’s rooms,” Shitty was saying, and Eric nodded. A uniformed guard stood in front of the doors, which were decorated with a bit of gold leaf around the edges. “And these are your new rooms,” Shitty said when they had only just passed the guard and gone around one corner.</p><p>“Oh my goodness,” Eric said, thinking about how close he was to Jack’s parents. “The rooms are lovely,” he said automatically, as Shitty opened the door and showed him a perfectly nice room. He stepped inside without hesitation, but the space smelled disused and felt cold. The window was open. He walked to the bed and patted it. It was high and large and a four-poster, rather like Jack’s. It looked like the linens had just been changed.</p><p>“So I’ll have to walk past Jack’s parents’ rooms every time I leave this room?”</p><p>“I’m sure that’s intentional,” Shitty said. “Prince Eric, I probably shouldn’t be this blunt, and I know you said just an hour ago you are eager to marry Prince Jack, but, I mean, didn’t you see the movie <i>Frozen</i>? Love at first sight, marrying a man you met yesterday… at the very least it is a hell of a risk.”</p><p>“Last night wasn’t the first time I saw Jack, Shitty.” Eric wandered to the window and leaned out to see. The view was lovely: a snowy courtyard with an iced-over fountain and a large, abstract stone statue. He closed the window. “Light the fire, please?”</p><p>Shitty bent to light the fire, and Eric sat nearby, watching Shitty as he worked, still able to see out the picture window if he raised his head. “I haven’t even told him yet, so please don’t share this, but if you've been with Jack for a few years you might remember a summer party, shortly before Jack turned seventeen. I was newly fourteen. It was… July, I think?”</p><p>“I think I might,” Shitty said, still kneeling to tend his new fire. “Your parents both attended. It was dinner, then dancing in the Green Ballroom.”</p><p>“Sounds about right,” Eric laughed a bit. “I’m not surprised you don’t recall seeing me in the ballroom. I hid behind a potted plant and stared longingly at Jack all evening.” He held up a hand. “Which, I know is hardly the same thing as meeting someone or getting to know him. But if I hadn’t left home I’d have been forcibly married to the Lady Chloe by now, despite being quite intractably gay. Marriage was never going to be a romance movie for me. Even if I thought I could somehow manage to fake my way through sex with a girl enough to get her pregnant once, which I can’t imagine succeeding at, honestly…” Prince Eric shivered. He knew Shitty didn’t think it was from the chill in the room, but he was grateful Shitty threw another log on the fire in response, anyway.</p><p>“The important thing, is Jack is literally the man of my dreams. I’ve been daydreaming about him since I was fourteen. The fact he chose <i>me</i> is… almost unbelievable. I gave up almost everything — family, home, title, nation, money — only so I wouldn’t have to fake it in a marriage with a pretty terrific girl who — frankly — could have been a dear friend, if I only could have been honest with her. But honesty was a risk I could not see a way to safely take. I <i>was</i> willing to give all that up, you see, but only on my own terms and in my own way. </p><p>“Leaving the way I did, I assumed I would either <i>never</i> return home again, or that by the time I was found, years would have passed and I would be allowed to return home, but only to live a lonely life in some sort of genteel near-exile. If I was allowed a lover I would have had to pretend he was something else. </p><p>“Instead, to spend a mere six weeks in safety, warmth, and kindness, learning a trade I turned out to both adore and be good at, only to be swept off my feet by the man I’d been pining over for years? No, Shitty, I’ve no intention of walking away. I may not know Jack well, but I am still luckier than I could ever have hoped to be.”</p><p>“I’m so glad you feel that way,” Jack said, stepping fully into the room from the shadowy open doorway.</p><p>Eric shot to his feet and turned. “Jack! How much did you hear?”</p><p>“Enough to fall in love with you all over again,” he said, sweeping Eric into his arms and gazing at him with open adoration.</p><p>“I should go,” Shitty said, sounding uncomfortable. “Please remember what the Queen decreed?”</p><p>Jack dismissed Shitty without looking at him. He didn’t take his eyes off Bitty. As soon as the door clicked shut, Jack bent to steal a kiss, which Bitty allowed enthusiastically. But when Jack cupped Eric’s ass in one of his large hands, Eric pulled slightly away. “Your mother, she said—” he panted.</p><p>“I talked to her,” Jack said, not letting go of Bitty’s ass. “It’s not the lack of sex which matters to her, it’s the lack of scandal.”</p><p>“Too late for that,” Bitty quipped, but he didn’t release Jack’s shoulders. </p><p>“I’m serious,” Jack said. She told me ‘<i>Plausible deniability is everything</i>, my dear son.’ Then she patted my hand. She… ok, you don’t know her, but trust me. She <i>patted</i> my <i>hand</i>. So I promised to respect you at all times and we left it there. She knows I came here immediately to have sex. I just, we can’t… not at night, is what I’m trying to say.”</p><p>Eric froze a little in Jack’s arms. A lifetime of deferring his entire self to satisfy his own parents wasn’t so easily set aside, even if this wasn’t his own mother he was afraid of offending. But gracious, Jack’s hand did feel awfully good squeezing his ass.</p><p>“You’re... quite sure?” he finally said, and was so embarrassed to realize he’d actually more… panted it.</p><p>Instead of speaking, Jack kissed him again, and Eric released himself to it. He heard himself moan a little, and couldn’t help but feel like — despite his complete lack of experience before last night — he was already really good at this sex thing. </p><p>Jack certainly seemed to think so.</p><p>Jack, as it happened, was picking him up and dropping him onto the bed. “I wanna fuck you,” Jack said into Eric’s neck, and Eric was so on board with that plan.</p><p>“You brought lube?” he asked, and even though his ass was a little sore, he was honestly disappointed to hear Jack’s frustrated groan.</p><p>“No,” Jack whispered, and Eric reached to press his hand up against Jack’s erection, which was thick and full and easy to trace, even through Jack’s handsome clothing. </p><p>“Didn’t you want to teach me how to suck your cock just the way you like?” Eric asked, and he felt Jack’s full-body shudder through every place where they touched.</p><p>“Crisse, yes,” Jack said. “But, uh… do you still want...? I mean, can I still...?” Jack looked up at the ceiling before tipping his head and giving Eric a shy, cock-eyed grin. “I’m really bad at talking, sometimes. Anyway, all I meant is, you aren’t a harem boy anymore. That’s what I was trying to say.”</p><p>Eric cocked his head in confusion. </p><p>“I liked... being in charge,” Jack said, and his face was warmer.</p><p>“I liked it too,” Eric admitted. </p><p>“Oh thank fuck,” Jack said. “Promise me you’ll always be honest in bed, even when I’m ordering you around?”</p><p>“What, um, what does that mean?” Eric said, more confused.</p><p>“It means,” Jack said, as he began to pull at Eric’s borrowed tunic, “we are negotiating a sexual dynamic where I am in charge, and you obey me, but never, <i>ever</i>, at the expense of your physical comfort. And almost never at the expense of your physical pleasure.”</p><p>“Now he can talk,” Eric said, as Jack pulled the tunic over his head and off him, then began to unbutton the uniform shirt Eric had worn under the Queen’s embroidery.</p><p>“Thank Shitty,” Jack said, and he spread the shirt open and pinched both of Eric’s nipples at once.</p><p>“Later,” Eric panted, and Jack flashed him a smile so warm and smug, Eric had to close his eyes for a second just to deal with the extraordinary gifts life had so recently bestowed upon him.</p><p>“I want to call you Bitty when we’re alone,” Jack said, and Eric nodded helplessly as Jack continued to pinch and roll his nipples.</p><p>“Until you, I had no idea those were so sensitive,” Eric panted. </p><p>“We have all the time in the world. We’ll learn your every inch together,” Jack said, and bent to bite Bitty’s neck, right on the bruise he had left the night before in the shower. </p><p>“Then call me Bitty,” Eric said. “And tell me everything you like. Everything you want.”</p><p>“I like when you obey me instantly, <i>Bitty</i>,” Jack said as he pressed his erection into Bitty’s hand. “I like leaving marks on your skin. I like when you squirm and whine and make those little sounds. I like when you pull your cheeks apart for me. I like when you look over your shoulder at me. I like the sounds your ass makes while I fuck you.”</p><p>Bitty groaned out loud, and Jack took possession of his mouth, kissing and biting him.</p><p>“What do <i>you</i> like?” Jack husked into Bitty’s ear as Bitty continued to rub Jack’s cock through his trousers.</p><p>“I like how beautiful you are, and how big your dick feels in my hand,” Bitty began. “I like when you fill my ass with your cock. I like when you surround me. It makes me feel protected and wanted. I like when you find things I like that I never knew about before. I like when you tell me to do things I realise I want to do. I like when you tell me to do something, and then I do it, and you tell me I did it well.”</p><p>“You do it all so fucking well,” Jack said, and he kissed Bitty again. “I’m going to come in my clothes if we don’t get them off.”</p><p>Bitty immediately unbuckled Jack’s belt and unzipped his trousers. Then Jack let go of Bitty to shove his clothing down and out of the way. They unbuttoned Jack’s shirt and Jack threw his tie over his shoulder. Bitty got on his knees.</p><p>“You have such a pretty mouth,” Jack said, and slowly filled it with his cock. Bitty put both hands on Jack’s round ass, but he didn’t pull. He stayed passive, letting Jack fuck him.</p><p>“Nothing has ever looked so good,” Jack said. “I’m going to come really soon. I’ll teach you later.”</p><p>“Mm,” Bitty hummed.</p><p>“Fuck, hum again, Bitty!” Jack ground out, and came in Bitty’s mouth as Bitty hummed loudly around his cock.</p><p>Bitty did his best to swallow.</p><p>“So good,” Jack panted, and then began to pull off the rest of his clothes. “Shower. I’ll jerk you off in the shower.”</p><p>Queen Alicia sent Shitty to “find” them an hour later. They were tangled around each other in Bitty’s enormous new bed, fast asleep, hair still slightly damp.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Three</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“After we spoke this morning,” Queen Alicia said at dinner, “I contacted the King and Queen of Morgan. They were relieved beyond measure to learn their youngest son was well and happy. They were less thrilled to learn you are planning to marry someone other than the Lady Chloe.”</p><p>“I am sorry you had to face my parents without me,” Eric said. “I hope they are well.”</p><p>“Well and furious,” Queen Alicia said, resigned. “They will be here in six days.”</p><p>Jack put his hand on top of Eric’s, right there on the table. He picked it up and squeezed. Eric squeezed back, marvelling yet again at the differences between his own parents and his soon-to-be-inlaws. </p><p>“I’ll write them right away,” Jack said. “They need to know I’m sincere. I love Eric. I want to make him happy.” He turned to Eric, brought the hand he was still holding to his mouth, and gently kissed the back of Eric’s hand. “I want to make you happy,” he said again, this time while looking into Eric’s eyes.</p><p>“You do,” Eric murmured, overwhelmed yet again.</p><p>“We will both write them immediately,” the Queen agreed. “But just the two of us. I’ll reiterate, Prince Eric, I don’t want you putting anything in writing.”</p><p>“I understand, Ma’am,” Eric said.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
  <p>/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////</p>
</div>
<p></p><div class="wbox">
  <p><br/>
Her Majesty Queen Alicia III of the Realm of Samwell,<br/>
Empress of Lonelle Mountain<br/>
Sovereign of Great Bymbridge</p>
  <p>Greets</p>
  <p>His Majesty King Richard II of Morgan<br/>
GrandDuke of Bittle<br/>
Defender of the Faith</p>
  <p>And Queen Consort Suzanne</p>
  <p> </p>
  <p>Richard, I know this must have come as a shock, but when you see the way your Eric shines like a beacon of light when he so much as sees my Jack enter the room. When you see the way my son defers to yours, adores him, and longs to make his every day a joy and his every berth a palace, you will know this union between our great nations can only lead to increased joy and prosperity for us all. </p>
  <p>Truly, a union between our two Great Houses is well overdue, and I am thrilled it is you and I who will live to see the first marriage between a Morgan heir and a Samwell scion since 1894.</p>
  <p>Robert and I are eager to host you and the lovely Suzanne again, and it will bring every subject of Samwell such excitement to see the two of you walking Prince Eric Richard Lionel down the aisle of Samwell’s largest Cathedral, two weeks hence.</p>
  <p>Yours, A</p>
</div>
<p></p><div class="wbox">
  <p><br/>
Dear King Richard and Queen Suzanne,<br/>
I know I am not what, or whom, you had planned for Prince Eric, but from the first moment I saw him I was drawn to him as I have never been to anyone before, man or woman. Rest assured; I will dedicate myself to his happiness for the rest of our lives. He is my everything.<br/>
Truly Yours,<br/>
Jacques Laurent, Crown Prince of the Realm of Samwell, First Prince of Kavellures<br/>
</p>
</div><div class="center">
  <p>/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////</p>
</div>“Shitty,” Eric hissed into the phone three hours later. “I need your help. Extremely discreet help.”
<p></p><div class="wbox">
  <p><br/>
Hey Mommy and Daddy, guess what? I'm marrying him whether you like it or not and I've already given him every last iota of my virginity anyway and I KNOW you don't want to go to war, besides which you will lose because the army loves me. They raised me, after all.</p>
  <p>And when I say every last iota of my virginity, I mean he was in my rear end, and he was in my mouth, he was in my rear <span class="u">again</span> and I loved it. I loved it all. I loved it in the bed and I loved it in the shower and I loved it on my knees. He loves me. He is everything I ever dreamed of in a lover and a spouse. </p>
  <p>Mommy, when I told you I thought I perhaps, possibly, could maybe be gay, I was pretty much lying. I <span class="u">knew</span> I was gay. I’m completely positive about it and I was positive and sure long, long before he stripped me naked and laid me out on his bed and took me like the massive, gorgeous Prince he is. But then I <span class="u">let</span> him take me, I <span class="u">begged</span> him to have me and now I’m not just gay. I’m super, duper, incredibly gay because I’m madly in love with him. </p>
  <p>When I tried so hard to get out of my first engagement, you should have listened. You should have cared, even a tiny little bit, about what I actually wanted. You could have taken me seriously. You could have thought, gee, maybe our son should have an opinion about his entire life, future and my every intimacy. But you didn’t, so I had to take matters into my own hands. And the precious Lord above was clearly watching out for me because somehow a job in a kitchen turned out to be an engagement to the handsomest, kindest Prince on the continent.</p>
  <p>See you soon, but don’t dream for a second I’ll let myself be alone with either of you for so much as a single moment. I’m marrying him. I’m staying here.</p>
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</div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I really, really love the name Lionel. More people should name baby human beings Lionel.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Four</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So, Bits,” Jack said, watching his fiancé happily organize his new clothes. “Now you have a complete wardrobe again, down to the shoes and ties and all that jazz, I was thinking I’d like to teach you how to ice skate. Like, now. How does that sound?”</p><p>Eric was glad he’d been facing away from Jack when those words had popped out of his darling fiancé’s mouth, lest he give the game away by laughing hysterically. </p><p>“I don’t know,” Eric said, biting down hard on his own sneaky amusement. “Morganers don’t tend to ice skate much.”</p><p>“Which is perfectly understandable,” Jack said loyally. “It’s a totally different climate. I’m sure there’s lots you can teach me about football, and you probably learned things from all your time in the military which would put me to shame. I assume it’s the army where you got your incredibly athletic body?”</p><p>Eric nodded at his clothing so he didn’t have to look at Jack. He was almost in control of his face again by now, and besides, it was true. He’d joined the army nearly a year before he’d learned to ice skate. “My first year in the army was exhausting,” Eric agreed, deliberately distracting himself from thoughts of ‘learning’ to ice skate today. “Running, weights, marching, even sword fighting. They worked us really hard. And we were only thirteen and a half years old, to start.”</p><p>“Thirteen?” Jack sounded shocked. “You dropped out of school at thirteen?”</p><p>Eric turned around. “Oh, heavens, no, sweetpea. The army was in addition to school. We woke up at five, ran ten miles, ate breakfast, lifted weights for three quarters of an hour, studied sword fighting for a few hours, ate lunch, marched for, oh golly, probably just a mile or two. That one wasn’t about exercise as much as it was about discipline. We did all that fancy rifle drill stuff while we marched. The stuff that looks good but doesn’t mean anything in combat, except you learn to follow orders before you can even think? Anyway, then it was time for a fast shower and school uniforms and tutors. We studied math, languages, geography, the history and literature of Morgan… stuff like that, for the five hours until dinner. I usually ate dinner with my parents, if they were around. If they weren’t, it was either Officers Mess or sometimes a formal meal with my friend David’s family. His Grandfather is the Marquess of Perriman, which meant he lived quite close. He would send a car if he wanted us to dine with him.”</p><p>Eric looked at Jack, expecting him to say something, but Jack was just looking at him, silent and wide-eyed.</p><p>“Jack?” Eric tried, but Jack just stared. “Sweetpea?” Eric tried again.</p><p>“I’m sorry, Bitty,” Jack finally said. “I just… that’s a lot.”</p><p>“Is it?” Eric frowned. “It’s the way all high-born boys in Morgan live. From thirteen and a half until nineteen and a half, assuming you pass all your exams and get an official commission. I mean, we’re sort of all officers from the get-go, because of the privilege of birth. But you don’t get a <i>job</i> and a real rank until you pass your exams. How does it work here in Samwell?”</p><p>“Uh,” Jack said, looking confused. “I guess, families make their own decisions? I went to school, then I went to college and got degrees in government and history. I only just graduated. I liked it. Some nobles join the army, but not at thirteen. Plenty of people go into business, or law, or, uh… my cousin became a doctor?”</p><p>“Oh,” Eric said, “that sounds nice. To have freedom like that, I mean.”</p><p>“<i>Tabarnak</i>,” Jack said, still staring openly at Eric. “You must be so disciplined. I bet you’ll learn to ice skate in no time at all.”</p><p>Eric hoped his pink ears would be misinterpreted. He couldn’t wait to get on the ice with Jack and blow his mind. “You’re too kind,” he said. “Ice skating always looked like tremendous fun. And Prince Jack’s husband should absolutely know how to skate. And play hockey, too! Will you let me watch you play hockey?”</p><p>“I <i>love</i> hockey,” Jack said. “Having you watch, and cheer me on? That will be amazing. Maman loves to cheer for Papa, and I’m so excited to finally know what that feels like. Yes, I would love to teach you to play hockey. Let’s go get you a pair of ice skates!”</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
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</div>“You tricked me,” Jack said, pouting.<p>Eric skated backwards away from Jack, his smile all mischief. “Did I?” He spun in a circle and zipped away, faster than Jack could go. “Or did you just <i>assume</i> I didn’t know how to play hockey, or even ice skate at all, and I let you think what you liked?” His voice was loud enough to fill the rink and Jack’s ears and cheeks changed color, even in the cold air.</p><p>“Touché,” Jack said, and put on speed in an attempt to catch his Bitty and kiss him, pressed up against the boards.</p><p>“Did I legitimately beat you, or were you just humoring me?” Jack murmured, but he couldn’t seem to stop kissing Eric long enough to find out his answer.</p><p>“Boys!” Prince Robert’s voice rang out from the stands. “Eric’s parents will be here in just over an hour. Time for formalwear and a formal welcome.”</p><p>“Daaad,” Jack said, and Eric looked at him, shocked. Jack just winked at him, and they skated toward Jack’s father, who was smiling kindly at them both. </p><p>“Did you lose track of time?” Prince Robert said, clearly amused, pulling the gate open and pointing them toward a bench. Their street shoes were already waiting there. Eric sat down by his shoes and started unlacing a skate.</p><p>“I did, Papa,” Jack told his father as Eric looked at his shoes. “Thank you for coming to get us.” He clapped his father on the shoulder.</p><p>“You’ll be a married man soon,” Prince Robert said, still standing by the gate, facing Eric. Jack sat down and began to unlace his own skates. “Both of you!”</p><p>“Are you excited for us, Papa?” Jack asked as he unlaced. Eric swallowed his nerves, relishing Jack’s solid presence at his side and the fact that no one expected him to speak right now. Surely Jack knew how he was and was not allowed to speak to his own father?</p><p>“I’ll be honest with you, my boy,” Prince Robert said, crossing his arms over his still broad, strong chest. Eric sneaked a look up at him through his lashes and hoped Jack would still be that handsome and strong at that age. </p><p>“You picked this fella really fast. I like you, Eric, I honestly do. But we’ve only known you a few days. You probably already know, Jack, that by the time your mother asked me to marry her, I practically lived here. I spent that much time with her and her parents." Prince Bob laughed softly and smiled wistfully. "We courted for months before we even spoke of marriage. Of course, I’m not of noble birth, so that was a huge obstacle you two don’t even have to think about.”</p><p>Eric finished unlacing his left skate, and began to pull it off his foot.</p><p>Prince Robert paused. “It's funny,” he mused. “In some ways, yours is the most old fashioned pairing imaginable, except of course it wasn’t actually arranged by the Kingdoms. It might as well have been, though. If your Dad,” the Prince nodded at Eric, “had sired even one daughter, a marriage between our nations would have been speculated upon from the moment she was born. Instead, you two went and arranged something crazy and yet, at the same time, almost ridiculously obvious. Unintentionally, no less. It’s kind of hilarious.”</p><p>Eric forced himself not to gape. The very idea he’d have been marrying Jack anyway, if one of them had been female.... He didn’t want to contemplate it. It hurt.</p><p>“But you asked if I’m excited for you,” the prince said, looking fondly at his son. “I am, Jack. I surely am. I see the way Eric looks at you, and Eric…” </p><p>Prince Robert looked at Eric, who looked back and tried not to look overwhelmed.</p><p>“I see the way you look at my son. I see the way you beam when he holds your hand. I see the way your shoulders relax when he kisses your hair. Jack, I see the way your breathing slows down when Eric smiles at you.” The prince frowned briefly, then leaned forward. </p><p>Eric could feel himself blushing. He looked down and laced up a shoe for the excuse to look away.</p><p>“Having Eric’s parents here is going to be a challenge for all of us.” Eric could <i>hear</i> the prince sigh after saying that. He frowned, but stayed silent.</p><p>“They aren’t comfortable with your relationship, with you two both being men, and, actually, I don’t think either of them is very good at managing situations where someone else is in control. Eric, I get the impression running away was pretty much the first thing you ever did for yourself in your whole life.”</p><p>It wasn’t a question, so Eric didn’t answer, but he was surprised Jack’s father had figured so much out so quickly.</p><p>“But yes, I think this wedding is a good idea. I think your love is real. Frankly, you two remind me of myself and the Queen, back when we were newly wed. We were head over heels for each other, and I can see you are, too. Your mother and I have always hoped you could both be a good Prince and have a happy life, Jack. Living in a royal fishbowl is very difficult. I’m so glad you two have been able to take this step together, that you are going to have each other moving forward.”</p><p>Prince Robert smiled as Eric finished tying his second shoe. Jack was already done with his.</p><p>“So yes, I am excited for you. I am happy for you. I think this is going to be good for you. And I don’t want you to be late! So get going! I’ll make sure those ice skates are taken care of.”</p><p>Eric felt himself blush, but Jack took his hand and pulled him up. “All right, Papa,” he said. “Thank you!” Jack kissed his father's cheek, and then pulled Eric by the hand out of there and off into the castle. They parted there, to shower and change clothes separately.</p>
<p></p><div class="center">
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</div>“Just a few more days,” Eric thought, looking at himself in the mirror to straighten his tie and jacket.<p>“Your parents have been officially welcomed, Prince Eric,” Shitty said, having stepped fully into Eric’s room. Eric stayed in his closet. The door was open to the rest of the room, and that felt good enough. He did not wish to interact with anyone right now. Not even Shitty, who had been so kind to him.</p><p>“Thank you, Shitty,” Eric said quietly, not meeting Knight’s eyes in the mirror. He did not trust himself to be sweet right now, and Shitty deserved neither his misery, nor his anger.</p><p>“Your mother asked me to tell you she is very eager to see you, and hopes you can join them in their guest quarters, then walk down to dinner together.”</p><p>At this Eric swung his eyes to Shitty’s, shocked. Then, feeling this was insufficient, he finally turned and walked out of his large closet. “And what did you tell them?” he asked, trying to control his voice. He kept his hands in his pockets, hoping this meant Shitty would not notice he had balled them into fists.</p><p>“I promised to relay the request,” Shitty said, making full eye contact and wiping neither pity nor concern from his face.</p><p>“I see,” Eric said automatically. He took a deep breath and paused before refocusing. “Thank you, Shitty. Sadly, I would be late to dinner if I made that accommodation. Would you be so kind as to return to them and relay that?”</p><p>“I can tell them, Prince Eric, but you are aware dinner is not for just over twenty minutes?”</p><p>“I am,” Eric said, taking care to lift his wrist and glance at his platinum Rolex, an extravagant gift from Jack just the day before.</p><p>“I understand,” Shitty said. He looked sad, but he gave a tiny bob of his head, backed out of the room, and strode off in the direction of the guest suites. Eric followed him out of the room, turned the other direction and went around the corner.</p><p>“Hello there!” he said brightly to the soldier in front of the Queen’s chambers. “I’m Eric!”</p><p>“Prince Eric,” the soldier said crisply, staring straight ahead. “Lieutenant Colonel Schramm, at your service.”</p><p>“Are the Queen and Prince Consort in, please?”</p><p>“Yes, Sir,” the soldier answered, still standing at rigid attention.</p><p>“Excellent,” Eric said, and rapped firmly on the door.</p><p>He arrived at dinner, walking cozily between Alicia and Bob just as his own parents arrived, guided by Shitty Knight, almost ten minutes early.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“<b>Jack</b>,” Eric said. He slammed Jack’s bedroom door shut behind himself and began to unbutton the purple silk shirt he had worn to dinner. Jack looked up, and was taken slightly aback. He had never seen his gentle, sunny Eric look… murderous before.</p><p>“Eric, my love,” Jack said softly. He stood up and stepped away from his desk. He moved a little closer to Eric, but didn’t touch him. “I’m surprised to see you here. I thought after that awful dinner with your parents, and my parents,” Jack wiped at his forehead.</p><p>Eric pulled off his silk shirt and threw it on the floor.</p><p>Jack continued helplessly, confused by Eric’s sudden appearance and behavior. “All those underhanded comments, and the way your mother wouldn’t stop staring at your hickey, and, and… clucking? With her tongue? I didn’t know people actually did that in real life.”</p><p>Eric pushed his shoes off, unbuckled his leather belt, slipped his beautiful watch into his pocket and started unbuttoning his black raw silk trousers.</p><p>“Anyway, I thought you’d sleep like a rock tonight. And that we agreed this was too much of a risk once your parents were in the castle.”</p><p>“I am so angry, Jack,” Eric said, voice wavering; stepping out of his trousers and leaving them crumpled where they lay. “Fuck them. Fuck their rigid, stupid rules, and their religion, and their indifference to me and my needs and my very <i>self</i>.”</p><p>Eric pulled off his black boxer briefs and pulled up a foot to remove one black sock. He balanced on one foot to do it, and Jack found himself distracted for a moment. Even when furious and barely rational, his Bitty was beautiful, strong and graceful.</p><p>“So fuck <i>me</i>, Jack. Fuck me up … up the... <i>ass</i> tonight.” Eric paused to take a deep breath. “Do it hard! Fuck me for real while they are one floor down and fretting about how we are such awful sinners. Make me come, Jack. Sin with me!”</p><p>Eric pulled off his other sock and threw himself into Jack’s arms.</p><p>“Bitty, darling,” Jack said helplessly. Bitty moved to kiss him, but instead began to cry. Jack maneuvered them over to sit on the bed, pulling Bitty as close as he could, trying to hear the words spilling rapidly from his beloved’s mouth.</p><p>“I know they’re freaked out,” Bitty sniffled. “I know they think our marriage will be sinful. And I know they were worried about me when they didn’t know where I was. But it’s the modern world, Jack. Our marriage won’t be legally recognized in Morgan, but it’s the last country in Europe where that’s true. The entire rest of the continent sees us as normal, Jack. As a happy thing. Everyone else knows, us being together is <i>good</i>. Why can’t my own parents see it that way? I’m so happy in your arms, Jack. You make me so happy!”</p><p>Jack petted a hand down the vulnerable curve of Eric’s back, believing Bitty even as he cried helplessly through his protests, waiting for the torrent of words to continue or fully subside.</p><p>“And all that <i>shit</i> Daddy spewed at dinner about how us getting married would be a boon for improving trade relations, and an impetus to finally get our countries to clear up the details of the treaty of 1978. They can rationalize this as good for politics at <i>home</i>, in front of the Parliament and the damned <i>Prime Minister</i>. Why do they have to show <i>me</i>, in front of you and your parents, that our wedding is something they have to work hard to rationalize, instead of something they can honestly celebrate?”</p><p>Eric looked up at Jack, who took the opportunity to lay them both down on top of the bedcovers. “Our childhoods were so different,” Jack admitted. “I want so badly to support you, but other than saying I love you, I’m not really sure what to say.”</p><p>“The way you are actually listening to me is honestly really helpful,” Eric said, patting his face with a tissue from the bedside table. “But why do you think our childhoods were different?”</p><p>“Because of things you’ve told me,” Jack said, running a hand down Bitty’s naked side over and over, like he was petting a cat. “You joined the army when you were a little kid, from my perspective. And stayed in school. Hell, you were spending almost as much time in school as I was at that age, but you were doing it after spending hours training for the army. Every day! That’s just… intense. I worked hard to get better at hockey, I was disciplined, but you’re faster than I am, and you didn’t learn the game until you were fourteen. I learned when I was, uh, three, I think.”</p><p>“Of course I’m faster than you, Jack,” Bitty giggled through a hiccup, his hand warm on Jack’s bicep. “We’re like the hare and the hound. You’re nearly twice my size!”</p><p>“I’m not twice your size, Bitty,” Jack chided. “And you being smaller explains why you turn faster, not why you skate faster. You’re, just, really talented. How much time did you spend learning to play hockey?”</p><p>Jack watched, clearly fascinated, as a blush travelled down Bitty’s body, warming his ears, his face, his chest.</p><p>“I had no idea a question about hockey would get a reaction like <i>that</i>,” he said, apparently unable not to tease at least a little. </p><p>“Hush, you,” Bitty said. He buried his face into Jack’s chest before he began to tell the story. “I saw you,” he said. “At that party four years ago.”</p><p>“I heard you telling Shitty,” Jack said.</p><p>“And I — you were my first crush, Jack. I stared at you all night like some sort of lovesick puppy.” He took a deep breath, but Jack didn’t interrupt. Instead he just kept petting Bitty’s side and listening.</p><p>“So, when I got home, I looked you up. One of the first things about you, the easiest thing to learn about you: you play hockey. You’re good at it. Your father was a big national hockey star when your mother started spending time with him. So, I, uh, wanted to learn to skate.”</p><p>Jack took that in. This beautiful young man, who could skate faster than Jack, had only been ice skating for a little over four years. And Jack had been his inspiration.</p><p>“You learned fast,” Jack finally said.</p><p>“I had army friends who were thrilled to add me to their team,” Bitty said, dismissively. “Hockey is only something people from the northernmost provinces of Morgan are at all likely to play. People who live, you know, close to here, close to Samwell. The guys in my unit who wanted to play used to have trouble getting enough people for a game sometimes, until I started learning how to skate. So we played as often as possible.”</p><p>“Which meant?” Jack asked, because he still really wanted to know.</p><p>“Well, all day Saturdays, usually. Sundays after church when we could get away with it. And then two or three times a week we’d play a little after dinner, but not for more than an hour, because we had to get up so early.”</p><p>“Tabarnak,” Jack swore, because he could not imagine being that dedicated to anything so extracurricular at fourteen, except perhaps hockey. But at fourteen he was already very good, not wobbly on his skates and struggling to catch up with people who had been playing for years. And hockey had always been baseline for Jack, not extra. His father was a hockey star and he was a Samwell Prince. “You grew up with so much discipline,” Jack murmured. He meant Eric had learned to discipline himself, but Bitty drooped in his arms before responding.</p><p>“Yes,” he said quietly. “So much discipline. So little choice. In Morgan, tradition and propriety governed every aspect of our royal lives. I hardly chose… barely anything, Jack. And when I actually managed to choose something: hockey, for instance, my parents gave me never-ending streams of complaints and confusion over it. I didn’t choose my clothes, or my studies, or my profession, or my training, or my freaking <i>bride</i>. And the thing is, as much as I spent my whole life wanting to choose things for myself… do you have any idea how terrifying it was to finally actually make one real choice for myself?”</p><p>“You mean, coming here? To Samwell?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Eric sighed.</p><p>Jack pulled away from Eric so they could look into one another’s eyes. “Eric. Bitty. I can hardly imagine what it took to do that.”</p><p>Eric blinked at him.</p><p>“You weren’t making some... flippant… choice, when you decided to escape. This wasn’t tea versus coffee. You were giving up practically everything in one fell swoop. Anyone would have been terrified.”</p><p>“Even you?” Eric sniffed a little, so Jack twisted around, pulled another tissue from the bedside table behind him and put it in Eric’s hand. He watched Eric dab at his eyes and discreetly blow his nose before answering.</p><p>“Even me? Sometimes, my love, I forget we don’t actually know each other terribly well yet. Did you not learn about my anxiety diagnosis when you looked me up on the internet?”</p><p>Eric’s eyes widened. “That’s real?” he asked. Jack sighed and closed his eyes. He’d dealt with this attitude before. He didn’t like it, but he had to be careful not to take his impatience out on Eric. </p><p>“I don’t know what you read,” he began. “There is a great deal of stupid nonsense out there about me. And about anxiety, too, now that I think about it. But I do have an anxiety diagnosis. That’s real. I take medication for it. That’s real, too. I don’t want to talk about it too much right now, because this conversation is supposed to be about you, but I definitely think you should know I have a mental illness, it’s under control, and right now I am very stable regarding my medical care and medications.”</p><p>Eric stared at Jack, wide-eyed and nervous. “Okay,” he said.</p><p>“Do you have any questions?” Jack tried.</p><p>“I will?” Eric said, sounding insecure. “Right now, though, no. I can’t think of anything to ask.”</p><p>“That’s fine,” Jack said, feeling relieved. “We have a lifetime to get to know each other’s quirks and foibles.”</p><p>Eric buried his head in Jack’s chest again, nodding agreement.</p><p>“For example,” Jack said. “I was trying to tell you, your decision to leave Morgan and try to make a new life in Samwell was incredibly brave. I don’t think you should be downplaying it the way you were.”</p><p>“I… that’s very generous,” Eric sniffled. “I feel like an idiot, though, being naked right now. As though what I needed tonight was sex."</p><p>"Hey," Jack said, "don't even worry about that. I mean, first of all, I can't even tell you how... trusted I feel right now? And how close to you? It's kind of amazing to be able to connect like this. This is so... intimate." He wrapped his arms tighter around Eric, who cuddled in even closer and put his arms around Jack while throwing one leg over Jack's legs.</p><p>"Not to mention, I mean, I always like touching you."</p><p>"I like touching you, too," Eric said into Jack's hopelessly wrinkled shirt. “How about, I mean… would you take your shirt off?”</p><p>“How about you put your pants back on, and I take this shirt off,” Jack said. “Then you won’t feel so vulnerable, we can still feel really close and intimate, and if someone tries to come in here, they’ll know we aren’t having sex. Which Maman already made us promise not to have tonight, and we did say we wouldn’t.”</p><p>“All right,” Eric said, slowly pulling away from Jack. “But I want to sleep in here tonight. Until the wedding, really. I’m still afraid my parents are going to try to kidnap me and sneak me back to Morgan.”</p><p>“I… I don’t think I can agree to that,” Jack said very slowly, “but I do have an idea.”</p><p>In the morning, Queen Suzanne had a lot of explaining to do, and a very thorough (and rather scripted) private apology had to be made. A short, blonde palace guard had been chloroformed in his sleep, replaced by a forged note in a decent copy of Eric’s hand, and dragged halfway out of the castle before a soldier from King Richard’s Morgan entourage realized he was not actually kidnapping Prince Eric. </p><p>After hearing what the young soldier had gone through, Queen Alicia stopped teasing Prince Jack about insisting Prince Eric sleep in her anterooms until the wedding. Eric’s parents looked embarrassed and defensive for three solid days.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Six</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time the actual wedding day rolled around, two weeks and a day from Jack’s marriage proposal, nearly everyone seemed happy about the wedding. Eric’s parents were still poorly hiding their discomfort, but he spent so little time with them now, and when he did, he could easily impose a buffer between himself and them. In addition, the castle could get news broadcasts from at least one city in northern Morgan, and what he saw there about himself and Jack was enthusiastic and warm. He could not be certain this reflected the official Morgan line, but it at least seemed likely, and this gave him hope. </p><p>Samwell City was officially ecstatic about Prince Jack’s impending nuptials. Jack and Eric had to go out every single day to make official appearances, and while Jack seemed uncomfortable sometimes, Eric was delighted with the love and acceptance the residents of his adopted city continued to shower generously upon the two of them. Even his former co-workers in the kitchen found ways to express their delight at Eric’s impending wedding bells. (Mostly with food, but also with little notes they managed to sneak into the cutest places, like Eric’s sock drawer!)</p><p>Eric particularly enjoyed the way — when he came across someone he used to work with in the palace kitchens — Jack and both his parents loved for him to greet his former co-worker with enthusiasm and familiarity. Eric had now introduced Queen Alicia to her own head pastry chef, and had introduced Jack to a terrific young woman, Simone, who worked halftime in the kitchen and halftime cleaning rooms upstairs. </p><p>At home in Morgan, Eric had been forced not only to pretend he didn’t know anyone in the kitchen (reasonable if disheartening — he didn’t want his parents to know he was learning to bake for fear it would give away his homosexuality), but he had also been explicitly taught to ignore and even look down upon the non-noble friends he worked with every day in the Army. His mother flatly refused to acknowledge he could care about a commoner as a friend. He’d gotten a lot of shit from her when he had become friendly with Charles, his third sparring partner, a boy who had grown up nearly as wealthy and privileged as Eric, except his parents held no titles. Hell, he hadn’t even had a crush on Charles! He’d just been a great guy, good at both hockey and French.</p><p>Jack, Alicia and Bob’s attitudes were a welcome contrast. Eric even managed to get the head pastry chef an invitation to the wedding, not that he expected to have a moment to greet her that day.</p><div class="center">
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</div>Eric’s wedding passed in a happy blur of noise, color and tears. His parents had made sure to bring his full dress uniform, sparkling with every medal and honor Eric had ever been awarded, plus at least one he wasn’t sure he recalled receiving. It was weird, he thought, to wear the uniform of a different nation’s army when marrying Samwell’s only prince, but it was a concession no one seemed to mind him making, so he slipped it on and buttoned it tight, up to the neck. Jack, thankfully — not being in Samwell’s military — wore a gorgeous morning suit of black and grey, with a crimson and white tie: both the colors of Samwell’s national flag. <p>He looked good enough to eat.</p><p>Eric planned to do so at his earliest opportunity.</p><p>Eric’s mother and father walked him down the aisle to meet Jack, who had been walked down moments before by his own parents. Queen Suzanne wept a few silent tears, unable to contain her emotions, but King Richard, at least, managed to stay silent. </p><p>Eric was terribly uncomfortable walking between them, until they finally reached Jack at the front of the Cathedral. His parents each kissed one of his cheeks. They were meant to simply sit once they’d kissed him, but instead, they let go of his hands and took one anothers’, looking Eric right in the eye. The King looked almost as stern as he usually did. Eric’s mother still had wet cheeks. </p><p>“We do love you, son,” King Richard said quietly, and Eric’s mouth only stayed closed because of years of training. Did his father mean that? “Together, both of us,” he looked at Queen Suzanne, and she nodded at her husband, then nodded at Eric, “bless this union.” </p><p>Eric managed a shocked nod before his mother folded him into her arms and kissed his cheek once more. “We want you to be happy here, with him,” she whispered in his ear. </p><p>Then, before Eric could think about what had happened, his parents were moving away to sit, and there was Jack, standing with the priest and waiting with a nervous, happy smile.</p><p>And with Jack looking at him like that, Eric could forget about everyone and everything else.</p><p>They stared at each other, looked at the priest, recited vows and kissed once, to restrained but approving murmurs. Then, hand-in-hand, they walked down the aisle and Eric found himself so overwhelmed, he could hardly believe he wasn’t tripping over his own feet.</p><p>There was a short carriage ride back to the palace, where they walked through so many smiles and roses to get inside the Green Ballroom, where the reception was already starting. Hours passed like waves, slow and fast and unending. There were so many (thousands?) photos taken, they danced, food was served and eaten. Eric even managed a few bites of the fish and later got one forkful of a slice of truly yummy cake before he was pulled from his meal yet again for yet another thing that was deemed more important.</p><p>By the time they were permitted to leave for their new rooms, Jack seemed about ready to run screaming, and even Eric was tired and footsore. His face hurt from smiling and his back ached from being military ramrod straight for hours upon hours.</p><p>But.</p><p>But.</p><p>But they were <i>married</i>.</p>
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<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Seven</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When they closed the door behind them; finally alone together in their enormous new suite of rooms, Eric wanted to collapse into Jack’s arms. He turned to look at his <i>brand new husband</i> and saw, however, that Jack looked, if possible, more tired than he did. </p><p><i>Jack</i>, Eric reminded himself, was an introvert.</p><p>“Oh look, sweetpea,” he said, relieved to see a beautifully table set under the window. “We get to have dinner after all.” </p><p>He took Jack’s hand and squeezed gently as he pulled Jack toward the table. He was very glad to see their new windows looked out over the same fountain and inner courtyard his temporary rooms had faced. Even a palace could lack privacy, depending. These days, with high powered lenses, robot drones, and paparazzi everywhere, it would be good to have their own, private rooms like this, pointing toward nothing but more of their own palace.</p><p>They sat down, pulling out their own chairs and tucking in. Tuna steaks in a dill sauce, perfectly crisp broccoli, tiny peppered potatoes. The salads were still chilled, everything else was still hot. They soon discovered two slices of cake hiding behind the flowers.</p><p>“I feel so much better,” Eric admitted after he’d had enough. </p><p>“Me too,” Jack said, but he still sounded a little drained.</p><p>“Shower?” Eric asked, tipping his head cutely to one side, because by now, he knew Jack liked that.</p><p>“Crisse, yes,” Jack agreed quietly. They stood. Jack went right for the bathroom to strip down, but Eric decided to undress in his enormous new closet. He folded his Morgan Army uniform gently and put it down on the waiting wingback chair, realizing as he did, he might well never wear the thing again as long as he lived. Then he slipped on a thick terry bathrobe and went to find Jack, who was already in the shower, slumped over with the water pounding on his curved neck, his lovely wedding clothes in a pile on the floor.</p><p>Eric stepped over Jack’s suit, hung his bathrobe on a waiting hook, and entered the large shower compartment. It was big enough for three men Jack’s size, and had at least four showerheads. Which was ironic, Eric reflected as he snuck into Jack’s embrace, clean tile at his back. Right now he wanted nothing more than for them to be very, very close.</p><p>“Hi,” Jack said, opening his tired eyes and smiling down into Eric’s grin.</p><p>“Hi,” Eric agreed, and kissed him. “Wash my back?”</p><p>Their shower was lazy, warm and slow. They got clean, they got hard, but they didn’t do much to tease or satisfy, wanting to wait until they were refreshed and dry. At least fifteen minutes after Eric joined him, Jack stepped out and held out a huge, fluffy towel to Eric, who insisted on taking it to dry Jack before he grabbed a second towel and let Jack return the favor. </p><p>By the time Eric was mostly dry, they were out of the bathroom and couldn’t stop kissing and touching.</p><p>“Bed?” Eric managed to say, but Jack had pressed him up against the wall a bit. </p><p>“Maybe right here,” Jack mumbled.</p><p>“Yeah. Lube,” Eric begged, and Jack paused, then nodded and walked the two steps to the bedside table and rummaged around. “Yesss,” he hissed out in quiet satisfaction, pulling several useful things from the drawer: wipes, lube, washcloths, a small ass plug that — from the cursory glance Eric gave it — tapered from extremely narrow to just under two of Jack’s fingers wide right above the base. </p><p>“Perfect,” Eric said, and Jack pushed him back into the wall and hitched one of his legs up, over Jack's hip. “Take me?” Eric said, and Jack bit his lip and grinned. </p><p>“Married sex,” Jack said, sliding one lubed finger into Bitty’s hole.</p><p>“Out there, we’re married,” Bitty whispered. “In here, I’m your <i>boy</i>. What does the Prince want?”</p><p>“Tabarnak,” Jack said, closing his eyes. “Give a man a moment. I don’t want to come on your thigh, baby.”</p><p>“Then maybe you should shove your cock in, take what you need?” Bitty’s eyes had closed. He didn’t think he could open them if he wanted. His head was tipped back against the wall. Jack was shoving two lubed fingers deep into his ass with a rhythm that made Bitty want the real thing.</p><p>“Yeah,” Jack said. He wiped his hand on a cloth, dropped it. He pressed his cockhead against Bitty’s slightly loosened hole, but Bitty’s body didn’t automatically open. “Don’t want to hurt you,” Jack said, not pushing any harder.</p><p>“You won’t,” Bitty said, forcing his eyes to open. “Please, baby,” he said, and Jack pushed just that little bit harder and then gripped under Bitty’s other thigh and pulled Bitty’s other foot off the floor as he pushed his cock deep into Bitty’s body.</p><p>“Damn,” Jack panted and sped his pace. He bent to bite at the juncture of Bitty’s neck and shoulder.</p><p>“Holy Jesus,” Bitty whined, thrilled to be held up by only Jack and the wall. “So good.”</p><p>“Mine,” Jack murmured, and then the only sounds were the slap and smack of him fucking Bitty up against the wall. </p><p>Bitty didn’t want Jack to lose focus or run out of energy before he could come inside Eric, but that turned out not to be an issue. All Bitty had to do was clamp his muscles down and whine quietly that “Jesus, baby, you’re so big,” and Jack was coming.</p><p>“Wanted you all day,” Jack said as he gently helped Bitty down off the wall.</p><p>“Me too, my love,” Bitty murmured, stroking his cock and wondering what Jack would want to do next. </p><p>“Can I suck you?” Jack asked, guiding Bitty to the bed. This one, Bitty noted, was still up very high, but this side, at least, had a step all the way from the head to the foot, and Eric could easily get himself up there. Jack helped him anyway, and Eric relished it.</p><p>“You would want that?” Eric asked, surprised. He was still playing with his own erection, but he’d expected Jack to take over, to jerk him off now he had come inside Eric’s ass. They’d done that more than once now, and Eric loved the way Jack’s huge, hockey-calloused hand felt on him. It never took long for Jack to bring Eric off that way.</p><p>“I liked it more than I expected, that time I took you in my mouth,” Jack said, smiling and climbing over Bitty, pushing him to lay down underneath Jack, who loomed over him, grinning. Eric scooted back on the bed, to get closer to the middle and get his head on a pillow. Jack just followed, still grinning. “So yeah. Don’t know how good it will be, don’t know if we’ll get all the way to you coming in my mouth, but let’s give that a try, eh?”</p><p>“Anything you want,” Eric said in his sultriest voice, wondering if Jack would laugh. He didn’t. He grinned, though, and pulled backward just enough to bob his head down and take Eric’s cock into his mouth.</p><p>Having his husband try to suck his cock was almost immediately the singularly most overwhelming thing Eric had ever felt. His hips surged upwards without permission, and Jack had to resort to boxing Bitty down with an entire forearm. When Jack experimentally spread Bitty’s legs and pressed a finger against Bitty’s wet hole, Bitty came without warning, yelping out his own surprise. Jack choked on it, at first, then pulled off and jerked Bitty’s cock with his hand through the rest, his other hand by now rhythmically pumping a finger in and out of Bitty’s hole.</p><p>“Jesus Christ, sweetpea,” Bitty whined out a few moments later. </p><p>“Good?” Jack asked, and Bitty cracked open one eye to see his new husband naked but for the smuggest grin he had even seen on Jack’s face. Jack grabbed the wipes and gave each of them a quick clean, but his smug smile didn’t change a bit.</p><p>Eric thought it was adorable.</p><p>“C’mere, sweetpea,” Eric told him, attempting to open his arms. Jack laid next to him and gathered Bitty in. </p><p>“Well?” Jack eventually asked, but Bitty poked him in the side instead of answering.</p><p>“Fishing for a compliment, Jack?” he finally mumbled, curling in closer. “If I must speak out loud, then yes, sweetpea, obviously. It was amazing. Now honey, let’s sleep for a couple hours before we wake up and fuck again, all right?”</p><p>“You really think we can get another screw in before we have to wake up at eight to head for our honeymoon at the Winter Palace?” Jack asked as he reached over to grab the remote control that turned off the overhead lights.</p><p>“I want to try, sweetpea,” Eric murmured. “I sure do wanna try.”</p>
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</div>Eric was wrong. They had sex not once, but twice more before they left for the airport. It took every ounce of military discipline Eric had not to walk slightly bow-legged as they made their way, first to the car, and then to the airplane.<p>Jack fucked him on the airplane, too.</p>
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</div>A long month at the Winter Palace turned out to be very good for Eric and Jack. They had the ice rink to themselves, and used it multiple times per week. They took long walks through the mountainous grounds surrounding the castle. They went cross-country and downhill skiing. They swam in the heated pool.<p>The Winter Palace chef had hired a vegetable gardener two years before, and she had installed greenhouses, so the Princes ate remarkably well: fresh produce at every meal, despite arriving in mid-December and leaving in late January. </p><p>They had a week to themselves before the Queen and Prince Consort joined them the day before Christmas Eve and stayed through the day after Boxing Day. Other than that, however, it was just them and the staff, for five long, luxurious weeks. Which meant sex. Lots and lots of sex.</p><p>They had sex in their bed. They had sex on their broad stone balcony, overlooking the mountain range. They had sex in the shower. They had sex on the rug in front of the fireplace. Jack fucked Bitty up against walls, in the greenhouse, in the massive, empty Palace ballroom, and in the changing room in the rink. They sucked each other’s cocks, but mostly Bitty bottomed, and the two of them went through so much lube that Jack discreetly asked the palace manager to order in a full case.</p><p>They learned a dance of Bitty’s submission in the bedroom and equality out of it. They learned ways for Jack to demand Bitty’s obedience even while Jack had his husband’s cock down his throat. Best of all, they learned ways to turn those blowjobs into an earned reward, as well as being a thing Jack sometimes did to test Bitty's ability to obey. </p><p>Bitty got better and better at silence while getting blown. At stillness while getting blown. And then, finally, pure, sincere praise while getting blown, but never ever demands. For while Jack might not want to be criticized, he found he did very much like hearing Bitty’s joy.</p><p>The more obedient Bitty was, the more likely he was to be allowed to come in Jack's mouth before being speared, fucked and filled. It became fairly common for Bitty to come twice: first in Jack’s mouth; then again, shortly before Jack would allow himself to lose control and thrust wildly and with complete abandon, until he finally filled his boy’s tight ass with thick bursts of heat.</p><p>As for Jack, he learned how to swallow. He was surprised to love it. It made him feel like he held mastery over himself and Bitty at the same time.</p><p>Bitty never wanted to go back.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Eight</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Of course, eventually their honeymoon had to end, and they flew back to the capital and were welcomed home with adoration, crowds and a parade back to the palace, as though they were conquering heroes.</p><p>“If only they knew what kind of conquering we’ve really been up to,” Eric mused quietly as he waved to their subjects.</p><p>“I’m sure they have at least a passing idea,” Jack said, laughing without changing the shape of his polite smile.</p><p>The Queen and Prince Consort met them on the palace steps, and they went in together for dinner, personally served by the Head Chef himself. Eric stood to greet his former boss, and even surprised him with a hug. </p><p>“We have missed you, Prince Eric,” Chef Plessinch said, voice damp, before disappearing through the door servers used to speed between the family’s dining room and the main kitchen.</p><p>“Wasn’t that sweet?” Eric said to his new family. The Queen smiled indulgently, then leaned forward slightly. </p><p>“The staff adores you, Eric. I started to realize how much while you were gone. I hear, for example, that after your wedding ceremony, you had dinner waiting in your rooms?”</p><p>Eric and Jack nodded, confused.</p><p>“They didn’t do that for us,” Bob said, squeezing his wife's hand and smiling at the boys. “We didn’t think to ask, so no one thought to do it. But for you two, the staff noticed you didn’t get to eat at the reception, because they notice things about Eric. Seeing that, figuring that out… it helped me realize what a gentleman you really are.”</p><p>Eric blushed hot and stared at his plate.</p>
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</div>It wasn’t until the middle of May that Jack was surprised by a formal, written request from Camilla and Samantha. They wished to meet with the Crown Prince the next morning, if he would kindly grant them a joint audience.<p>“I’d damn near forgotten about them,” he mused to Eric over a private dinner in their rooms. Jack’s parents were at the ballet that evening, but Jack had begged off, wanting a quiet night at home with Eric.</p><p>Eric, who had most definitely <i>not</i> forgotten the two women hired as his husband’s private, exclusive sex workers before Eric and Jack had even met, merely nodded and sipped his wine. He had been reasonably sure Jack had not had sex with anyone else since their wedding night, not even Samantha or Camilla, but he had not had the courage to ask. He’d told himself it wasn’t his business and walled his insecurity up behind a little barrier in his mind.</p><p>“It doesn’t say what they want to talk about,” Jack said, looking over at the letter again. It lay next to his plate. He grimaced a little, picked up his wine glass, then put it down again before he took a sip. He looked, Eric decided, a little distressed.</p><p>“They do live in the castle, right?” Eric asked. “Do you want to have someone bring them up now? End the suspense?”</p><p>“I, huh,” Jack said. He put his fork down and picked the letter up yet again. It was short, and he had not shown it to Eric, but Bitty felt he had nonetheless essentially memorized it, because Jack had read it out loud in full once, and then had quoted pieces of it out loud at least twice.</p>
<p></p><div class="wbox">
  <p><br/>
Your Highness, Crown Prince Jack,<br/>
We respectfully request an audience with you tomorrow morning immediately after your breakfast. We wish to ask of you a favor, which we hope will not be considered inappropriate.<br/>
Sincerely yours,<br/>
Camilla Collins and Samantha Schmelzer<br/>
<br/>
</p>
</div><p>“I am feeling very, uh, impatient,” Jack admitted.</p><p>Eric felt exactly the same way, but didn’t want to push. So he just reached over and squeezed Jack’s hand, then let go and continued to eat his dinner. He managed two more bites of the chicken before Jack stood and stalked abruptly to the door of their rooms, where a soldier was now stationed.</p><p>Jack spoke to the Lieutenant Colonel there, and Eric couldn’t hear him, but assumed he knew what it was about, nonetheless.</p><p>“They should be here soon,” Jack said as he strode back to their dinner table. He picked up his fork and began eating again, this time, decisively. Eric was happy to see Jack lose his discomfort, and applied himself to finishing his own dinner before the ladies could arrive.</p><p>Samantha and Camilla’s arrival was announced shortly after Jack and Bitty finished eating, but before their dinner dishes were cleared. Jack told the soldier at his door that he did not wish to be disturbed while he spoke with Samantha and Camilla, and the soldier agreed to have staff wait to clear away the dishes. Then Jack ushered the two women inside. Eric swallowed. They were both utterly stunning.</p><p>Eric was surprised to see they were both in smart, conservative suits, one in navy, the other in grey. The blonde wore a navy pantsuit and low heels, and she’d applied very little makeup. Her blouse was in a flattering shade of peach. The redhead was a little taller, and her grey suit had a tea-length skirt. She wore kitten heels. Her blouse was Samwell red, and Bitty had no idea how she made it work with her fiery hair, but she had succeeded nonetheless. She had, Eric thought, a little more makeup on than the other one. She looked natural nonetheless, not at all fake. </p><p>Eric wanted to photograph them. To impress them. For them to like him. They were undeniably among the most attractive women he’d ever seen. This was the competition? He swallowed once, hoping no one would notice. How was <i>he</i> the spouse?</p><p>Bitty stood politely as they entered the room, and Jack ushered everyone over to the sitting area by the window, where there were four comfortable armchairs.</p><p>“Prince Jack,” the blonde began when everyone was seated. “Shall I get right to the point?”</p><p>“Please, Camilla,” Jack said, and he reached out absently for Bitty’s hand. Bitty let him take it, feeling a bit of relief seep into his muscles, though his posture remained politely rigid.</p><p>“As I expect you are very much aware, Sir, you have not called for either of us in nearly seven months—”</p><p>Eric did not allow anyone to see him relax a bit, but he felt it as some of the tightness left his shoulders.</p><p>“—since before you met your new husband. In that time, Samantha and I have finished our degrees, and we have —”</p><p>“I’m sorry,” Jack interrupted. “Did you say you have both… finished degrees?”</p><p>“Yes, your highness,” Camilla said, her voice still crisply professional. “I have just completed a law degree and Samantha completed an undergraduate degree in English, with a minor in public relations.” Camilla paused to flash a proud smile toward Samantha. “We have been attending our classes online, at Samwell University. I have an appointment to take the bar exam in about six weeks.”</p><p>“I had no idea,” Jack said, slowly.</p><p>“Well Sir, neither of us mentioned it.”</p><p>“I, no,” Jack said, still speaking slowly. He turned to Bitty, raised his eyebrows, lowered them and turned back to Camilla. “You, uh, wanted to ask for a favor?”</p><p>“Yes Sir,” Samantha said. Her voice was a little deeper than Camilla’s. “First of all, Camilla would need to leave the castle in order to take the bar exam.”</p><p>“Tabarnak,” Jack exclaimed. “Granted. Of course.”</p><p>“Second of all,” Samantha said, and now she glanced uncertainly at Camilla, who offered her a warm and encouraging smile. “Well, it’s just, can we go? I mean, you never ask for either of us anymore, and the whole world can see how happy you two are together, and we don’t want to spend the rest of our lives in here if we aren’t doing you any good anymore?” She winced visibly, and Eric could see the pink of an embarrassed blush on her ears, and high on her cheekbones. Even he could tell it made her even more attractive. </p><p>“You want to move out of the castle?” Jack said, and he sounded surprised, but not at all upset. Eric felt even a little more relief seep into his veins.</p><p> “I, sure? You’re right, I haven’t called for either of you in ages, and I doubt I will again. I can understand wanting to leave, but, even with those degrees, do you have a plan? I’ve always worried that if I sent you out into the world you would experience discrimination, stigma. It’s a big part of why I didn’t suggest this myself. I assumed… heh. I was making assumptions. I should have asked you, huh? But I had no idea you were taking classes!”</p><p>“Well, your highness,” Camilla said, leaning forward in her chair just a bit. “Yes, we do have a plan. But it would require that favor we mentioned earlier.”</p><p>“Anything,” Jack said calmly. “Well, I mean, nearly anything.” He laughed quietly. “You two have been so important to me, since I was a ridiculously awkward sixteen year old, Camilla, and you put up with my stupidity and my fumbling.”</p><p>“It was my pleasure,” Camilla said, and now <i>she</i> was blushing.</p><p>Eric felt a knot of discomfort start to reform, low in his gut. Knowing his husband had a harem he’d been ignoring was one thing. Watching them all flirt and blush at each other was another. But his royal training was still well in place and he was reasonably sure no one else in the room was even slightly aware of his now increasing discomfort.</p><p>“We were hoping, in addition to being released from our contracts, for some, er, funds. With our backgrounds, and our new degrees, if we had some financial assistance, we thought we could start a Public Relations Firm.”</p><p>“Collins and Schmelzer, LLC,” Samantha said, pride clear in her voice.</p><p>“Mon dieu!” Jack exclaimed. “I love it! That sounds like a marvelous idea.” He let go of Bitty’s hand, jumped up, and headed for his desk, where he opened a drawer to remove an enormous chequebook. He put it on the desk, leaned over it, a pen already in his hand. “Would fifty thousand be enough? Much more than that and I would have to talk to my parents, or Parliament. But if fifty thousand is enough, I can write you a cheque right now, from my own personal funds.”</p><p>He was looking over his shoulder from all the way across the room, but Bitty was looking at Samantha and Camilla, who looked — respectively — overwhelmed and pleased.</p><p>Camilla finally spoke, just a beat later than she probably intended to. “That is twice what we were hoping for, Sir.”</p><p>“Then it’s enough,” Jack said, and he began to fill out the cheque. “I’m sure there is plenty you’ll find to spend the money on. You’ll need a place to live, you might need to hire a security detail, and the publicity over my donation should be nothing but positive, I’m thinking? We don't want anyone thinking I kicked you two out.”</p><p>“Thank you, your highness,” Camilla said, standing now. Samantha followed and Eric did, too, feeling the knot of insecurity slowly dissolving from the pit of his stomach. </p><p>“Your generosity is so, I mean, thank you!” Samantha wasn’t as professional as Camilla. Eric didn’t want to find it charming.</p><p>“Crisse, you two, you’d think you were asking for something hard for me to give!” Jack carefully ripped the check along the perforations, then strode across the room, arm outstretched toward the women, cheque in hand. He handed it to Camilla.</p><p>“You haven’t actually formed the LLC yet,” Jack said, “So I just made it out to the two of you. Oh Crisse, I should have asked! Assumptions again. I’m just so excited for both of you! So, is that all right? The way I made out the cheque?”</p><p>Samantha was behind Camilla now, who held the cheque out in front of her. They were both gazing at it in a bit of wonder, like it was a new baby, or a tiger behind one thin fence.</p><p>“Yes,” Camilla answered, but she was still looking at the cheque. “This is perfect, your highness. Thank you! Thank you so much!”</p><p>Eric watched as the women gently extricated themselves from the room. Jack clearly wasn’t sure if he should offer to hug anyone, and Camilla offered him a handshake which he accepted with grace and gratitude. Soon they had gone, and a staffer slid in and out again, dinner dishes in tow, as Jack paced around and mumbled things about Camilla and Samantha that Eric didn’t really want to overhear. </p><p>“Well!” Jack eventually said. “I’m so glad you suggested we not wait!” He rubbed his hands together and smiled. He turned to Bitty, still smiling, and caught the last bit of discomfort Bitty had not quite managed to hide.</p><p>“Darling?” Jack said, and Eric couldn’t help it, he let one tear escape, then another. It was enough for Jack to know he wasn’t quite as okay as he’d tried to project. Suddenly he was enfolded into Jack’s embrace.</p><p>“I think I’ve learned something about assumptions tonight,” Jack said, voice wry. He pulled them over to the loveseat and sat, half coaxing, half manhandling his husband into his lap. “So I’m not going to guess why you are crying. Instead, I am going to ask.”</p><p>“I’m relieved,” Eric said, dabbing his face with a handkerchief he found in a pocket.</p><p>“About?” Jack asked, tucking Eric’s head under his chin and tightening his arms into an even warmer hug.</p><p>“I didn’t know you hadn’t, I mean… I wasn’t sure how, um, monogamous you were.”</p><p>Jack paused, then he raised one arm away and started to pet him, smooth strokes down Eric’s back. “That’s fair,” he eventually said. He sounded contemplative. “It seems odd now, but once upon a time, I had every intention of continuing to have sex with both of them after I got married.”</p><p>Eric sobbed, just a little, and Jack waited patiently for Eric to quiet again.</p><p>“That was not only before I met you, of course. That was when I couldn’t imagine being this happy. When I couldn't imagine having something so… real. My parents would never have done to me what yours did, my love. They would never, ever have presented me with some high-born young woman and insisted I marry her. But… well, I think my grandfather might have tried something like that, if he’d lived longer.”</p><p>Eric snuffled out an interrogative little noise into Jack's chest even as his husband continued to cuddle him close and pet down his back. He wanted to hear more, even if he didn’t want to speak.</p><p>“Grand-père, he was the King before my mother was Queen. He ascended the throne when he was only twenty-four, and he was obsessed with the whole concept of heirs. Which is funny, because he was forty-two when my mother was born. It took him forever to choose a wife, and then they only had one child because my grandmother died right after Maman turned two. </p><p>“Instead of marrying again, he had his widowed sister move in and act as Queen, so Maman was raised by her father and my Great-Aunt Patricia. For a man obsessed with heirs, he didn’t do much to make sure he had many of them.” </p><p>Jack sighed. “He was also pretty obnoxious about my mother not wanting to get pregnant right away after she and Papa married. But when I was born, he was even worse.” Jack barked out a laugh. </p><p>“He died when I was eleven, and until he fell ill, it was like I had three parents. I mean, we all lived here, of course, but he spent a great deal of time with me, and he talked all the time about how I needed to marry and have children. He was the reason Camilla came to live here, too.”</p><p>Bitty made a surprised noise into Jack’s chest.</p><p>“Grand-père, he saw how incredibly awkward I was with girls. So after he fell ill, he went behind Maman’s back and convinced Papa to get me my very own sex worker for my birthday. <i>Niaiseux</i>. It sounds insane, now, but I was beyond thrilled at the time, I can admit. And it helped. Having Camilla and then Samantha… I learned to talk to them. And after I lost my virginity, I was more confident with other people, too.”</p><p>“But, your parents?” Eric wasn’t even quite sure what he was asking, but Jack responded anyway.</p><p>“I found out later my father promised Grand-père about the harem. He felt pressured. Grand-père was dying. Even so, he didn’t do what he’d originally been asked. Grand-père, believe it or not, wanted me to get a harem girl for my <i>thirteenth</i> birthday. Waiting until I turned sixteen was sort of a huge concession.”</p><p>Jack sighed. “I’m losing track of the important part, I’m sorry. The important thing is that before I met you, I <i>knew</i> Samantha and Camilla, and I liked them. I was comfortable with them. I cared about them. I enjoyed spending time with them. And I had never, not once, met a woman I thought I could feel even half of what I now feel for you. So, especially after I’d spent eleven years hearing from Grand-père about how critically important it was that I marry someone suitable and get her pregnant right away, I just figured my wife would be… a compromise. And therefore, I would continue to sleep with Samantha and Camilla.”</p><p>“I guess I understand,” Eric said. He’d stopped crying but didn’t want to get off Jack’s lap.</p><p>“Then I met you, and I fell in love almost the first moment. You know,” he adjusted them so he could look Eric in the eye. “I’ve been assuming I’m just your garden-variety bisexual, but I wonder if I’m bisexual but homoromantic? After all, I never fell in love with either Camilla or Samantha, despite how good they both made me feel. Then I fell in love with you before I even got my cock inside you that first time.”</p><p>He smirked a little, but Eric let his mouth fall open in shock. “You did?”</p><p>Now Jack looked sad. “I did. Did I not tell you that?”</p><p>Embarrassed, Eric shook his head.</p><p>“Well, now I feel like an ass,” Jack said, frowning. “I’m mad for you, darling. I have been since the beginning. I think it started when I was asking you for consent, and you were so adorably shy, but then you put your arms around me, and you talked about how much you wanted me.... I melted like a stick of butter.”</p><p>Eric blinked at him.</p><p>“That’s why I haven’t called for Camilla or Samantha since I met you. That’s why I’ve never had sex with anyone except the three of you. And I don’t believe I ever will. Because I’m not interested. Because I don’t <i>want</i> to. Because I love you. And because when I stood up in front of the priest, and our parents, and my whole nation watching on television, and I said that I love you? That was a promise.”</p><p>“I love you, too,” Eric said, and he sobbed in Jack’s arms as his husband held him close and whispered adoring words in his hair.</p>
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<a name="section0009"><h2>9. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>[eight years later]</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Good heavens, I got a letter from Chloe!”</p><p>Jack looked up from the breakfast table. “Your former fiancée?”</p><p>Eric cocked his head playfully at Jack, who winked at him. “Yes, sweetpea, that Chloe. Not that I think of her that way. What mattered to me was that she was my friend.” He scanned the pages of the letter, then went back to read the whole thing. Jack waited patiently, reading the newspaper and drinking his coffee. Eric updated him as he came across interesting tidbits of news.</p><p>“She’s in England now,” he said.</p><p>A minute later, “Oh, she went to college there, and then law school. I always knew she was intelligent.”</p><p>After a pause, “She’s engaged! To someone she picked for herself!”</p><p>“Isn’t that nice?” Jack murmured, smiling.</p><p>“It really is,” Eric agreed, reading on. “He’s nobility, looks like. The current Queen’s first cousin, twice removed.”</p><p>“Nice,” Jack said, mildly. He turned the page in his newspaper.</p><p>“She hopes we can come to the wedding,” Eric eventually added.</p><p>Jack put his paper down. “I think you could go, but with England no longer in the EU…. I don’t think I can accompany you to a royal wedding in the U.K., darling. Parliament would have a fit.”</p><p>Eric frowned. “Wouldn’t it look odd for me to go without you, though? Since technically, she was my fiancée once?”</p><p>“Good point. You’ll need to bring someone,” Jack said, looking thoughtful. “You’ll have to bring someone perfect. Then you can go.”</p><p>“Princess Alicia?” Eric asked, hopefully.</p><p>“Our chosen heir? No, I know how much you enjoy her company, but she can’t go anymore than I can, even if she’s still just twelve years old, and Maman’s great-niece.'' Jack stared up at the ceiling, which Eric knew meant he was thinking hard and didn’t want to be interrupted. </p><p>“I know,” he said after a short silence. “Ask Papa to go along with you.”</p><p>“Bob?” Eric mused. “He is a great traveling companion. You think he’s the one I should bring when Chloe marries a British nobleman? Maybe we should ask Collins and Schmelzer’s opinion before I respond to the invitation.”</p><p>“I always approve of getting their opinion, but I think my Dad is perfect,” Jack said, smiling, “because, like you, he married into the family. Also, he’ll keep anyone from suggesting you're there to cheat on me with Chloe, and no one would ever think you and Papa had anything weird going on.”</p><p>Eric laughed. “I don’t know, sweetpea. Your Dad is pretty handsome.”</p><p>“I look just like him, though, don’t I? So I’ll take that as a compliment.”</p><p>“You should,” Eric agreed.</p><p>Six months later, he and Bob had a wonderful trip to attend Chloe’s wedding. All of Bitty’s outfits were dissected and praised on Tom &amp; Lorenzo. As were his father-in-law’s. Eric had the time of his life, then he came home to Jack.</p><p> </p><p>
  <i>Fin</i>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>onetwistedmiracle on Tumblr. come over, say hi :-)</p></blockquote></div></div>
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